Atherosclerosis is a progressive disease of the vascular system whereby atheroma is deposited on the inner walls of blood vessels. Over time atheromatous deposits can become large enough to reduce or occlude blood flow through the vessels, leading to symptoms of low blood flow such as pain in the legs (on walking or at rest), skin ulcer, angina (at rest or exertional), and other symptoms. To treat this disease and improve or resolve these symptoms it is desirable to restore or improve blood flow through the vessel.
Various means are used to restore or improve blood flow through atheromatous vessels. The atheroma deposits can be displaced by diametrically expanding the vessel by inflating balloons, expanding stents, and other methods, however these methods undesirably tear and stretch the vessel, causing scar formation in a high percentage of patients. Such scar tissue (restenotic material), once formed, blocks now in the vessel and often needs to be removed. The deposits can be pulverized using lasers and other methods however pulverization alone of atheromatous material allows microemboli to flow downstream and lodge in distal vascular beds, further compromising blood flow to the tissue affected by the disease. Atherectomy catheters can be used to remove atheromatous deposits from the blood vessel and can present an ideal solution when the atheromatous debris removed from the vessel is captured and removed from the body.
One problem that occurs when removing material from a blood vessel is that material fragments may be created by the removal means, in some cases by a cutter, and such fragments may be left in the body where they can embolize and cause problems. It is desirable to remove from the body all material fragments created at the time of material removal from a vessel wall. Some catheters are designed to remove material from the body by directing material particles into a collection chamber however these collection efforts are not always 100% effective. Improved particle collection means are needed.